Background/Objectives: Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are susceptible to infections that can affect their clinical outcomes. Aims: The aims of this study were to assess the following: (1) the incidence of pneumonia in CLL patients treated with venetoclax-based regimens in a real-world setting, (2) the risk factors for event-free survival (EFS), and (3) overall survival (OS). Methods: This multicenter study included 322 patients from eight centers. Univariable and multivariable analyses (MVA) were performed, with the development of pneumonia during venetoclax-based treatment and OS as outcomes. Results: The most common complication was neutropenia (59%). During treatment with venetoclax-based regimens, 66 (20%) patients developed pneumonia—50 (23%) patients in the rituximab-plus-venetoclax (R-VEN) group and 13 (16%) patients in the obinutuzumab-plus-venetoclax (O-VEN) group (p = 0.15). Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)/asthma, splenomegaly, elevated creatinine, and anemia < 8 g/dL were the risk factors for EFS in MVA (HR = 2.08, 95%CI 1.16–3.74, p = 0.014; HR 1.73, 95%CI 1.08–2.78, p = 0.02; HR 2.13, 95%CI 1.10–4.11, p = 0.03, HR 3.58, 95%CI 2.18–5.89, p < 0.001, respectively). Relapsed/refractory (R/R) CLL patients treated with R-VEN with pneumonia had worse OS than those without (p < 0.001). In patients treated with O-VEN, median OS did not differ between patients with and without pneumonia (p = 0.45). Conclusions: Our real-world study showed that pneumonia during venetoclax treatment occurs more frequently than reported in registration trials and has a negative impact on OS, especially in patients with R/R CLL who are treated with R-VEN. Neutropenia is not a risk factor for pneumonia.

The rapid evolution of structural heart interventions, particularly transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER), and hybrid procedures, has significantly expanded treatment options for elderly, frail, and multimorbid patients previously considered high risk or inoperable. However, perioperative risk stratification in this population remains challenging. Traditional risk scores such as EuroSCORE, EuroSCORE II, STS-PROM, CHA₂DS₂-VASc, and HAS-BLED were developed and validated primarily in cohorts undergoing conventional open-heart surgery (CABG and surgical valve replacement) more than 15–25 years ago. This narrative review critically evaluates the performance and limitations of these classical models in contemporary populations undergoing modern structural cardiac interventions. Evidence from registries and meta-analyses indicates only moderate discriminatory ability and systematic calibration errors. EuroSCORE II and STS-PROM frequently overestimate risk in low- and intermediate-risk patients while underestimating it in high-risk and frail individuals, particularly regarding neurological, renal complications, and prolonged hospitalization. Similar limitations apply to CHA₂DS₂-VASc and HAS-BLED when used beyond their original scope in the peri-procedural setting of TAVI/TEER. The review highlights the growing role of frailty assessment, procedure-specific variables, and machine learning algorithms, which demonstrate superior predictive performance compared to conventional scores. Until dedicated, regularly updated risk models based on large TAVI/TEER registries become available, traditional scores should be used only as supportive tools within multidisciplinary Heart Team discussions that incorporate individual frailty, quality of life, and patient preferences.

Allostatic load (AL) is a multisystemic indicator of the cumulative “wear and tear” on the body caused by chronic stress. In oncology, high AL is associated with a poorer prognosis, a higher number of postoperative complications, and lower treatment tolerance. Patients with head and neck cancer (HNC)—due to frequent smoking, alcohol abuse, low socioeconomic status, and high psychological and functional burden—belong to a group particularly vulnerable to high AL; however, its role in this population remains poorly understood. This narrative review includes publications from 2015 to 2026 from the PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, and Scopus databases. We analyzed original studies, systematic reviews, and narrative reviews concerning AL in oncology, prehabilitation, and HNC. Additionally, we employed the snowballing method and included studies from key research groups. The results reveal a clear research gap—the lack of direct studies evaluating AL in HNC patients. In other cancers (breast, colorectal, lung), high AL is an independent risk factor for complications, longer hospital stays, and poorer survival. Multimodal prehabilitation (exercise, nutritional, and psychological support) shows potential for reducing AL, but no prospective studies evaluating this effect have been conducted in the HNC population. Assessment of AL may serve as a valuable tool for preoperative risk stratification and monitoring the effects of prehabilitation in patients with head and neck cancer. Prospective cohort and randomized trials are needed to integrate AL into precision medicine for this patient group.

Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease in which pain remains the most prominent and burdensome symptom from the patient’s perspective. Despite effective control of peripheral inflammation with biological and targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, an estimated 20–30% of patients continue to experience persistent moderate-to-severe pain after achieving clinical remission. This therapeutic gap reflects the evolution of pain mechanisms from peripheral nociception towards central sensitisation and nociplastic pain, creating a need for integrative approaches to patient stratification. The Rheumatoid Arthritis Pain Artificial Intelligence (RA-PAIN-AI) study aims to identify and characterise clinical, neurophysiological and multiomic signatures associated with chronic pain in patients with RA using integrative artificial intelligence (AI)-based analytical methods. Methods and analysis: RA-PAIN-AI is a prospective, observational, single-centre case–control study integrating clinical laboratory neurophysiological and multiomic data. Two groups of adult patients with RA will be enrolled: patients with active RA qualifying for biological therapy under the Polish national drug programme B.33 and patients receiving biological therapy who are in sustained clinical remission for at least 1.5 years without clinically significant chronic pain. All participants will undergo clinical assessment, validated patient-reported outcome measures and peripheral blood collection at baseline, followed by repeat questionnaires and peripheral blood collection at 3–6 months. The exact interval between visits will be recorded and included in longitudinal analyses where appropriate. Electroencephalography will be performed only in an exploratory subset according to predefined feasibility, safety and eligibility criteria. Biological samples will be analysed using whole genome sequencing (genomics), messenger RNA expression profiling (transcriptomics) and measurement of circulating proteins (secretomics). A minimum of 50 participants per group will be recruited. Because the study is exploratory and high-dimensional, AI and machine-learning analyses will use prespecified feature filtering, dimensionality reduction, regularisation and internal validation procedures, and all predictive models will require external validation in future cohorts. Ethics and dissemination: The protocol received a favourable opinion from the Bioethics Committee at the Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wroclaw, Poland (Opinion No. KB-17/2025, dated 25 September 2025). Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants before any study-related procedure. The results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations and communication with relevant scientific, clinical and patient communities. Trial registration number: NCT07769619 .

The Cancers journal retracts the article titled “Pneumonia in Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Treated with Venetoclax-Based Regimens: A Real-World Analysis of the Polish Adult Leukemia Group (PALG)”

Atherosclerotic stenosis of the internal carotid artery (ICA-S) is among the significant causes of ischemic stroke. Current noninvasive imaging techniques